Jews Without Jewish Memories

In 1905 during outbreaks of anti-semitism in Russia my grandfather was beaten up and his tiny store wrecked because he was a Jew. Other Jews were killed during this pogrom. Israel police seek right wing Israeli Jewish settlers who set fire to the doorway of a Christian monastery and spray painted in Hebrew, “Jesus Is A Monkey.” The monastery sits on land in the West Bank that increasingly is being seized by Jewish settlers since God told them to take whatever they can in order to prove they are good Jews.

Rabbi Gilad Kariv, a reform Jew, blasted these false Jews. “As a rabbi and as an Israeli citizen I am ashamed today and I am deeply troubled by the fact that this is not the first time that such an event takes place in Israel.”

There are Jews without memory and there are Jews who seek to emulate the behavior of anti-Semites. All too often, these Jews come from West Bank settlers. As a Jew, I apologize to all Christians in Israel.